Chapter 558: Nicole At A Loss

Two out of the three walls surrounding the living room had already collapsed. That was especially true of the wall facing the kitchen. The kitchen itself had fallen into ruins. Lying amid the ruins of the kitchen was the black man, the first to charge Nicole.

As for the other three… … Gregory was lying on the floor. Earlier, he had unleashed his flame attack. However, when his flaming attack reached Nicole, an unknown force deflected it back. The flames then struck the gas pipe in the kitchen, resulting in an explosion. Gregory was not afraid of the flames from the explosion, but Nicole had casually grabbed hold of one of the pieces of broken glasses and…

Well, that piece of glass was now stuck in Gregory’s throat.

As for the fellow who had broken into the house through the window together with the black man… … his fate was the worst. The fellow had not even the chance to display his skill before getting killed off – metallic objects resembling metal balls had suddenly appeared in the air. Each of the metallic objects had a turret muzzle on their surface.

Floater Cannons!

The energy beams shot out by the Floater Cannons struck the poor fellow. His body was also caught in the cross fire of the attacks earlier. In but an instant, his entire body was vaporized. Nothing was left of him.

The only one left alive in the house – not counting Nicole – was the woman.

Nicole had deliberately left her alive to get information from her.

There was an appalled expression on the woman’s face as she stared at Nicole.

Her body was pinned against the wall…

To be exact, there were four metal hoops on all four of her limbs. Just now, when her side was attacking, this woman’s movement speed was truly fast. She was like a tempest and it was impossible to catch her movements with the naked eye.

Unexpectedly, four metal hoops suddenly appeared from thin air and proceeded to attach themselves on the woman’s four limbs. Next, they quickly pinned her onto the wall like a specimen.

When the explosion erupted earlier, an energy shield appeared from the metal hoops to block off the explosion.

That was how the woman had remained alive.

“Scavenger!” Seeing that her other three companions had died, the woman shouted out in despair.

“Stop shouting. That fellow was the first to die. Why did you think he hadn’t crawl out of the hole all this time?” Nicole shook her head. “When he was charging in, he charged past me. Back then, would I miss out on the opportunity handed out to me? I gave him a… … Stoneskin’s defensive properties don’t seem all that.”

The woman fell into a state of despair. “You! Who are you? Who!!!”

Nicole smiled. She abruptly stretched out her hand. The Floater Cannons that were floating in the air and the four metal hoops pinning the woman to the wall flew toward Nicole at the same time. They quickly shrunk down before fusing together with the unique looking metal headset that she was wearing.

Seeing that, the woman’s face contorted greatly and her teeth trembled. She stuttered, “You, you, you… … you are… … you are… … Angel Corps!”

A tangled expression flashed across Nicole’s eyes and she let out a gentle sigh. “The feels are real… … to finally hear my enemies shout out my origin… … it fills me with a thousand emotions.”

She slowly walked forward until she was standing before the woman. Using one hand, Nicole grabbed the woman by the neck and raised her up.

The woman did not resist at all. Earlier, when the four metal hoops attached themselves onto her four limbs, they had automatically sent in sharp metal blades into her limbs to break the bones of her four limbs.

Thus, despite being a speed-type Body Technique user, she was unable to move at all thanks to her broken hands and legs.

“Now, question time, you understand, don’t you? Answer my questions and you won’t have to suffer as much. By the way, you can forget about pinning your hopes on your third team. My friend has gone to seize your third team,” said Nicole with a sigh.

The woman lowered her eyes in despair.

“Let us start with the simplest question, who are you? My database on Thorned Flower Guild has nothing on you,” Nicole asked coldly.

“Database on Thorned Flower Guild? You people…. … have something like that?”

“It is as you said, I am a member of the Angel Corps. As the military organization of Zero City, we have been facing off against Thorned Flower Guild for years. Since we are old enemies, it is only natural for us to collect information on many of Thorned Flower Guild’s members. We cannot collect information on Players because it is pointless. At any rate, they would only come online when there are instance dungeons. However, you people are different! Despite your identity as Awakened ones, you actually chose to join Thorned Flower Guild, a Player guild! It is only natural for us to seriously fight you traitors of humanity.” Nicole sneered.

The woman paled.

“Answer the question.”

“Yes, I, my name is Alice.” The woman whispered helplessly. “I was originally the Guild Leader of an Awakened guild. A few months ago, my guild faced total annihilation in an instance dungeon. I was the only one to survive. Then… … in the end, I found a secret enlistment place where I met someone from Thorned Flower Guild. They recruited me to be part of their peripheral member. I… … I am not a traitor to humanity. I just want to live! Without my guild, I am unable to deal with those instance dungeons alone! Surely you know just how low the survival rate is for lone Awakened ones when they participate in instance dungeons!”

The woman was shockingly none other than Alice. [1]

She was the very same Alice that Chen Xiaolian had encountered in the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon, an Awakened proficient in speed-type Body Technique.

“Very good. Although I do not agree with your approach, I am satisfied with the way you cooperated and answered my question. Now, the simple question is done with. Time for the more important questions. I hope you will continue to cooperate.” Nicole cast a strict glare at Alice and said, “You and your companions are members of Thorned Flower Guild. Why attack Tom Huggins?  He is also Thorned Flower Guild’s member, a contact person. Why attack someone who is on the same side as you?”

Alice hesitated for a moment. Although her four limbs were broken, she felt no pain at all – when the metal hoops were breaking the bones of her limbs, it had also injected her with some kind of numbing drug. To be exact, the present her was unable to feel a thing from her four limbs.

“You are hesitating. Why? Are you worried that you would be unable to explain yourself if you reveal the secrets of your organization?” said Nicole, a trace of ridicule could be heard in her tone. “If I were in your shoes, I would not consider that. Instead, I would consider the issue before me. If you answer me, you may have to take responsibility for it when you return. However, if you do not answer me, you will die right now. What is your choice?”

“… … I will talk.” Alice bowed her head in resignation.

She then raised her head to reveal the face of one who had made up her mind. “I do not know much myself since I am a new recruit. I do not know much about the discord between the higher ups of the guild. All I know is… … after Guild Leader Shen’s disappearance, Thorned Flower Guild spiralled into a state of conflict.

“Because Guild Leader Shen was the one who advocated the recruitment of Awakened ones into the guild. After his disappearance, the higher ups in Thorned Flower Guild have a difference in opinions. Many hold hostile views toward Awakened members like us.

“At present, four of the strongest Awakened members inside the guild had taken action to set up a faction, which I am a part of. This faction has four figures of authority. Their codenames are Unit Zero, Unit One, Unit Two and Unit Three.

“These four figures appealed and recruited some of the Awakened members of Thorned Flower Guild. They decided to establish their own guild and break away from Thorned Flower Guild.

“Their rationale for that is: As Awakened ones, we should not have to give our lives for the Players. Originally, Guild Leader Shen treats us as useful members. However, now that Guild Leader Shen has disappeared, everyone is speculating that he may have died. The other high-ranking Players have always viewed us in a contentious manner… if so, we might as well establish our own guild and break off from Thorned Flower Guild.

“Quite a number of Awakened members from Thorned Flower Guild have joined us.

“The reason we are attacking Tom Huggins, also known as Knight Ivan, is because he is the contact person for the British Isles region.

“Truth be told, Thorned Flower Guild is very big. It has recruited many Awakened ones. However, we are in the dark about the list of Awakened ones. Only the higher ups of the guild would have access to this list.

“Tom Huggins is a contact person and also an Awakened. He possesses the guild’s Awakened member list for all of Europe. By seizing Tom Huggins, we would be able to get the member list from him – after that, find the others, convince them to join us and together, establish our own guild, thereby breaking off from Thorned Flower Guild. We will be fighting against them! It doesn’t matter which guild we are talking about, the punishment for traitors is always very heavy. You know that. Thus, in order to protect ourselves, we need to quickly increase our strength!”

Alice said all that in quick succession.

However, when she mentioned the words “Guild Leader Shen’s disappearance”, Nicole’s brows had jumped violently.

Thanks to her strong character, she was able to calm down. She forced herself to listen patiently until Alice was done.

After that, Nicole took a deep breath to suppress the roiling emotions in her heart. “Hold up! You said… … Shen disappeared? Your Thorned Flower Guild Leader, Shen! He… … disappeared? What happened? When did that happen?”

Alice cautiously replied, “This happened only a few days ago… … right after the fall of Zero City… …”

Despite how good of a temperament Nicole possessed, hearing that made her lose control.

She staggered as her face fell and she spoke up in a quivering voice, “You, what did you just say? Zero City has fallen?”

…

1 Alice, first appeared in Chapter 61.↩